Lancaster, Pennsylvania — A marijuana consumption lounge began operating in Lancaster this weekend where customers are provided a public space to smoke marijuana products. The lounge is advertising that a medical marijuana card is not required for patients to purchase or consume marijuana.
“We’re honored to be launching the first consumption lounge of its kind in Pennsylvania,” says lounge owner Heather Kreider, founder of Hempfield Apothetique. “It’s all about creating a welcoming space for our community to relax, enjoy art, music, and support local artists.”
Kreider argues that while it is illegal to smoke raw marijuana in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, her weed bar is not illegal because customers are being offered marijuana with THCA, which “doesn’t cause any psychoactive effects on its own.”
THCA stands for tetrahydrocannabinol acid, and when heated it forms THC, which produces psychoactive effects.
Kreider says the 2018 farm bill allows for this because THCA is found in raw marijuana and doesn’t produce THC’s psychoactive effects until heated, therefore it falls under this legal threshold when derived from hemp. Thus, THCA derived from hemp is typically regarded as legal in terms of federal law.
However, Kreider also admits that smoking THCA will get you high when it becomes THC through decarboxylation, vaporization or combustion (aka smoking).
The lounge is advertising that only THCA products with a delta-9 THC content of less than 0.3% are allowed for sale.
Pennsylvania law strictly forbids the smoking of marijuana products, and using marijuana for recreational purposes is illegal in Pennsylvania.
Harrisburg100 
huh nothing illegal here, this is all 2018 farm act approved hemp.
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